i'm thankful for: a lot of things

i couldn't exactly think of a photo to use, so this is what we're going with.  i couldn't think of a solid "final thanks" day topic, so here we go with a mixture of everything.  i guess i'll just list off a bunch of randomness in the world that i'm thankful for.  whether it is physically existing, feelings, nonsense and everything in between.
i'm thankful for
photography
oreo sundaes
disneyland
grandparents
music
kleenex
external hard drives
laughter
late night taco bell drive thru
my students
sharing
holidays
cousins
being able to have a job every day since i was 16
people who don't pick up their pennies
entertainment
text messaging
pockets
personal strengths, both physical & emotional
my sewing machine
hobbies & talents
seat belts
online shopping
mexican food
vacations
dance
the ability to be constantly learning new things
hooded sweatshirts
communication
memories
chapstick
support
a good book
social networking
and the list can go on and on if i sat here long enough.
i'm thankful for all the big things in my life (teachers, friends & family) but just as important are those little everyday things that sometimes go forgotten.  somethings you don't realize until something bad has happened, while other things remind you of all the good times.  i am thankful for so much in my life, but didn't even think about all the very little things until this week.  i hope that we all (myself included) can begin to remember these things throughout the year, and not just in the month of november when the holiday season begins.  so here's to a happy rest of 2013 to you all, and time to prepare for 2014... yikes.  already??

i'm thankful for: family

yep, i did totally make sure this one fell on thanksgiving day. basically, isn't it part of the idea of the whole day?  so yes, today i am proclaiming to the world my thankfulness for the family i spend day in and day out living with.  yes, i also hereby state that YES i am still living at home.  so there.
i am thankful for my parents, who have supported me through all the years of schooling, financially supporting me for college round one and supporting my decision to go back for college 2.0 when the idea was brought forth.  they drove me to countless sports events, band practices, competitions, dance classes, piano lessons and more.  they "forced" me to stick with things when my friends backed out, teaching me that when i made a commitment to something, i needed to follow through with it (insert 8th grade musical the music man here) and if i wanted something badly enough (want... not need) i needed to save up for it myself and learn the value of a dollar (as well as the importance of an emergency savings account).  i've learned responsibility through them, by ways of car payments and keeping up with events and commitments.  i've luckily been able to save money by still remaining at home, and that one day when i am finally able to get out on my own, i know i will be ready thanks to the examples and teachings i've had each and every day.
i'm thankful for friday night joann's trips with my mom, two wppi vegas trips with my dad & numerous photography conversations (i still don't have a darkroom though....), and countless lunch trips out with the two of them before i went back to school.
i'm also thankful for sunday afternoons of dvr clearing, where we all (siblings included) watch shows together.  the big bang theory is a house hold staple, so yes, i'm thankful for that too.
and cats... as clearly show in our most recent family photo... from 2009...  i think we need to deal with updating that soon.
basically, my goal was to find the most recent "portrait" of just me with each of my siblings... and while aileen & joshua are more recent... i think this is possibly THE last one before joshua came to be.  well, at least that i could find in the one book i looked through.
markham has always been the oldest, and i admire the talents he has discovered over the years through his drawing & animation practices.  HOPEFULLY i can will sway him to finally draw me a blog header while he is home on break next month... obviously so i can show off his talents here and not for my own visually appealing gains.  then i can clearly say i was one of his clients before he hit it big...  because when he gets his job at pixar, i know he will sneak me for behind the scenes of toy story 47, and will introduce me to his good friend tim allen.  wishful thinking, but hey, anything can happen.
joshua, as i will tell anyone, i didn't want... and he also chipped my front tooth... and he ruined my perfect life of being the youngest, spoiled child (later to be totally ruined by sibling number 4) anyways, he has come to be an entertaining individual to have around, and is always fun to joke around with.  for all the ruining of my life he did as an infant, i am thankful for the younger brother that i have ended up with.  i can't wait to see where his staging career takes him over the years, and i would really appreciate it if he got a job on tour with fall out boy.  seriously kid... make it happen.  i need some meet & greet hook ups!
aileen is finally useful.  i will be the first to admit that she and i didn't really mesh for awhile a few years ago.  but now that we wear the same size shirts, i like her a lot more.  she's finally come to terms with being my life size barbie doll that i can dress up and take pictures of (seriously... life size barbie was NEVER as tall or the same size clothes as i was.  ugh)  our latest self entertainment comes in the form of creating stupid bitstrips comings of the two of us, doing nearly impossible things... maybe a blog post on those later... but now that she is driving(ish), applying for college and what not, i am glad for the relationship we have begun to form.  although, with her desire for science... i don't know how useful she will be in my future.  she better pull something amazing.
granted, my siblings and i aren't the more "serious" bunch, i am thankful for each of them in their own way.  i know that i am basically stuck with them for quite some time now, so i guess i will stop trying to pass off as being adopted.  apparently aileen looks more like me than i think she should.  i'm glad for the moments we've shared, both good and bad, and guess i will appreciate them.  but this is about all the mushy appreciation i can handle.  it's starting to get too sappy up in here.
and if you didn't understand earlier...
i am also thankful for cats.  even grumpy gills elroy & fatty mc fatterson mushu.
and maybe sir stinks a lot buzz cat.
joshua's cat smells like feet though.  watch out.

i'm thankful for: friends

of course, what girl isn't thankful for the friends in her life? these three are my closest friends, and they know everything about me, and vice versa.  i couldn't ask for a better "posse" to call my own, each of them unique and fantastic in their own ways.
erika: my best of the best, and the girl that i just couldn't get rid of and can't live without.  known for our double trouble ways in high school, and 10 years later we are still staying strong.  we are pretty opposite in some ways, but so much the same in others.  while i was going through my old hard drives for these thanksgiving posts, i found so many photos of the two of us from over the years that i had completely forgotten about.  i am sad for the year or so we missed out on, but even more grateful for the time we've had since.  i'm grateful i was able to stand by her side as her maid of honor last summer & see our childhood dreams of falling in love come true.  i seriously cannot imagine what i would do without her in my life at this point, she truly is like a sister to me.
jenny:  hard to believe we hated each other all those years ago.  yeah, that will be a story i tell at her wedding for sure! oh man.  we survived some pretty crazy classes (hey there, yearbook!) and came out on top.  high school chaos, college chaos, and everything in between, we've managed to keep on truckin' and going on.  though i do resent her for being in the bay area (kidding! mostly...), movie nights, oreo sundaes & girly gossip at denny's becomes that much more special.  the second half of 2013 was a little brutal on the both of us, but it became that much easier to have a friend at the same stage to lean on and pull each other out of our funk.
amy: oh where to begin.  amy was one of my first friends that i made when i moved in middle school, and has stayed constant the whole time.  she is SUCH an amazingly positive person that never has a mean word to say about anyone... it is quite incredible.  she's so dedicated to her goals and works hard to get what she wants.  i am completely honored that after all these years (nearly 15.  wow) that i get to stand by her side as a bridesmaid & support her marrying the man of her dreams.  and yeah, he is a pretty awesome guy for sure :)
i'm at that point in life where i've gotten to watch friends from all ages of my life fall in love, get married, have babies and start a family.  while that hasn't happen completely yet for me, i'm so thankful for the modes of communication that are around to keep in touch.  yeah, this is my "thankful for facebook" shout out, because without it i wouldn't be able to keep up with all my friends near and far.  some friends i haven't seen for years, some i saw just last week, but thanks to modern technology and ability to connect instantly, i feel like they've always been around.  and of course, it also makes me miss them and plan trips to go cross country next summer to see them for the first time in what feels like forever :)  so facebook, thank you for being there.  without you, i would be stuck dealing with the new myspace layout.  and that would be horrendous!

i'm thankful for: teachers

granted, those over achievers have been posting things they've been thankful for all month long on facebook, but i know if i was to try and go for an entire month i would hit the point of "i'm thankful for... uh... nail polish?"  anyways, i decided to whittle it down to just a week (well, 4 days) so here we go!
i am quite thankful for all the teachers i have had throughout my life.  i have overall had some pretty decent teachers, a horrid few, and then there is the handful of teachers i will always ALWAYS remember and be grateful for.  through all my school years, i've had at least one at each school that has left an impact on me in various ways, so here we go, a shout out to them.
mrs. blake will ALWAYS be the teacher i regard as my favorite.  markham had her for 2nd grade at dry creek, and then i was lucky enough to end up in her 2nd grade class as well.  and then 3rd, 4th and 5th until she retired (clearly because we were moving).  she truly made the learning environment fun and very hands on.  we took imaginary trips to european countries, had medieval feasts in the classroom, and took more field trips than i can even remember.  she had a love for travel, and brought that in to the classroom through finding us pen pals, and we had a "valentino" beanie baby that we would send to her different friends around the world and he would go on adventures.  in later years, she admitted she probably wasn't the "best" teacher we could have had, but we all definitely enjoyed our time.  she has come out for visits a few times since, and it has been great to catch up with her.  i still have yet to write to her (yes, in a handwritten card.  we still do that people!) and fill her in about my decision to become a teacher.  fun fact:  it's mostly because of her and her love for the madeline books that i have since fallen in love with the name, and intend to name my future daughter after the smallest little girl in the two straight lines, as a homage to my favorite teacher.  even though i'm now 25, i don't think i will ever get used to calling her karen though!
mr. muth was my 7th grade math/science/p.e. teacher at franklin, and kept things interesting.  we were his first class he had at the school, and i will always remember his little mermaid lunchbox.  an admitted disney enthusiast, we had quite a few hands on experiences in his class.  oh, and "life lessons" for sure.  i learned how to count to 10 in german that year, dissected a pig, and learned that "pain is just weakness leaving the body"... as well as anything that was not enjoyable "builds character."  the poor guy had to deal with the year of the josh, with about 5 or 6 between the two 7th grade classes.  oy.  mr. muth went on to having josh (my brother) and aileen in his class as well, which i think added to aileen's enjoyment to pursue a science career after high school.
rebecca gregg & randy snook  were two of my college professors at sierra in the photo department, and it was through their classes that i discovered that photography was what i really wanted to do.  in particular, randy taught the documentary class, which was one of my top photo classes at both sierra & sac state.  rebecca taught the studio photography classes, where i learned a lot about lighting, posing & eventually creating my own projects that would later lead to my ballerina project at sac state, and heading in to running my own business.  i ran in to rebecca last year at the gold county fair, and was super excited to tell her about how things have been going.  i'm on campus all the time, i should seriously just stop by and say hi sometime.  the passion rebecca has for her students reminded me so much of how mrs. blake cared about each and every one of us over the years.
sharmon goff was a great teacher to have at sac state, and i was able to say i was a "second generation" student of hers.  my dad had sharmon when he was at sac state in the 80s getting a minor in photography, and still remembered some of the projects he worked on.  sharmon taught the studio and documentary classes at CSUS, and both were yet again, my stronger suits.  my ballerina project fell under the senior portfolio class that i had with doug dertinger who totally made some of the classes rather comedic.  some days, it was like having a muppet run rampant in the room... but as senior level college students, some days you just need this.
joanna mcvay has been my dance teacher since,  well... forever.  she has been a consistent factor in my life since i was age three, and has created an environment of a second family. in the past 20 years i've been with kids r it, i've only been away from a recital for one year and it was rather strange.  joanna trusted me enough to give me my first job, and has since supported me through everything school and business wise.  had i not had a teacher like joanna, i don't think i would have continued through as long as i have after graduating from high school.  her studio is also not discriminatory, which has exposed some of her students to others with varying disabilities and capabilities and still treated them like they were one of the same.  some of my favorite people to be around are my coworkers, and things such as recital and staff meetings are more like a mini family reunion than a chore.  i know someday, when i finally move on to bigger things, she will still be supporting me the entire way, as she has done with other students and staff.